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Control your Cholesterol1203 August 2015 We've always seen cholesterol as the bad fat in the body, just because most people face high cholesterol issues that lead to heart problems in the future. But does that mean it has nothing good about it? Of course not! Cholesterol is a waxy substance that is extremely important for the body in many ways like:
Producing sex hormones in both men and woman
Maintaining cell structure and temperature
Producing vitamin D in the presence of sunlight, which is extremely important for bone strength
Producing bile in the liver which is important for fat digestion
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But just as everything is bad in excess, the same applies to cholesterol as well. If you eat too much of high cholesterol in fatty foods like egg yolks, red meat, organ meat, etc. and lead an extremely sedentary life, your cholesterol levels will go up, and you will blame the poor cholesterol instead of blaming your lifestyle. Below are a few tips that can help you lower your cholesterol levels:
Include plenty of soluble fibre foods in your diet like oats, fruits like apples, pears, prunes, dates, etc, and beans. The soluble fibre forms a gel in the digestive tract, binds with the excess cholesterol, and helps excrete it from your body.
Have nuts like almonds, walnuts, pecans, and seeds like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc. They contain Vitamin E, a great antioxidant and rich in PUFA and MUFA, which have cholesterol-lowering properties.
Include fish/flaxseeds in your diet as they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which form a part of each and every cell of your body, increasing good cholesterol and reducing bad cholesterol. One can have fish 2-3 times/week.
Olive oil is a great source of PUFA and MUFA, which are important to lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol. You can add it to your salads and soups or use the cooking olive oil to cook your daily food.
Onions contain quercetin and garlic contains sulphurous compounds that help to lower bad cholesterol. You canadd them to your salad or daily food.
Fenugreek seeds are a rich source of steroidal saponins that help to reduce the body's absorption of cholesterol through the fat-rich foods we eat. Besides, researchers also speculate that these saponins may have a role to play in reducing the body's production of cholesterol. The fibre in the methi seeds adds to its value to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.
Replace whole dairy foods with low-fat options like low-fat milk, curds, cheese, paneer or even better soy milk / tofu
Replace butter, margarine, ghee with vegetable oils like sunflower oils, safflower oils, etc.
Avoid red meat and make sure you de-skin the chicken before consuming it.
Strive to consume no more than 200mg cholesterol a day. Consume no more than 1 egg yolk a day.
Avoid processed foods like cookies, chips, bakery items, fried foods to prevent high your blood cholesterol from rising as they contain the harmful trans fats.
You can consume a fibre supplement daily, which can help cut down your cholesterol levels just to make sure you meet your day's fibre requirement.
Control your alcohol consumption and make sure you not do not exceed the permissible levels of more than 1 drink a day for women and 1-2 drinks a day for men.
Read the food label carefully and avoid foods with ingredients like meat fat, coconut or palm oil, cream, butter, egg or yolk solids, whole milk solids, lard, cocoa butter, chocolate or imitation chocolate, or hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fat or oil. Watch out for fast foods and other unlabelled products where you don't know what you are actually eating.
Lastly, exercise everyday for at least 45 minutes as it helps increase good cholesterol (HDL) levels in your blood, which in turn helps to lower bad cholesterol. You can opt for any exercise you like be it walking, jogging, swimming, dancing, weight training, zumba, etc.
Cholesterol isn't that bad as long as you are conscious of what you eat